High Enough
by Vanestea
Summary: Can you take me high enough? It's Never Over, And Yesterday's Just A Memory...     Hollow Bastion.    It was teeming with Heartless, to the point where yellow beady eyes followed you everywhere.    This is where our story began.
1. Chapter 1

"Do you remember the day we met?"

I found myself looking over to the male on my left. His feet were dangling in the bright, calming blue seawater from the edge of earth we both sat. I smiled at his relaxed state. His blonde, spiky hair shone gold in the sunset. Glorious, it looked. So so glorious…there was a brief second where his locks turned brunette.

I ran a hand over his. His blush dusted his nose lightly and he let the smallest chuckle escape his lips.

"I obviously remember, Roxas. How can I forget?"

He smiled at the sand below him. "I dunno, I…just thought…" He sighed happily and stared back at the seawater. I waited, not wanting to press him. Roxas looked up at me and smiled, unaware of his alter-ego's actions. "It was a long journey to get here, huh?" Roxas' lips curved into another heart-melting smile.

Brushing back loose hairs, I nodded to him. "Yeah…" I tried my best to hide the ugly scar on my arm and rubbed it with my other hand. My companion frowned, and placed a transparent hand on my arm. He leaned his forehead against mine. "I'm really sorry about him…"

"It's fine." I interrupted almost too quickly. That sudden action concerned Roxas a bit, and his eyes scanned me worriedly. I shook my head as a response, and he sighed, watching his alter-ego laugh alongside mine. Jenn and Sora…

"They're lucky." I smiled. Blue eyes met my own blue ones, confused.

"How so?"

I turned on my side to look at him again. "Well, they always had each other, right?" I smiled weakly. "Sora could always use his heart to find her, they had a happy ending."

Suddenly I wanted to take back my words.

"But we didn't?" The hurt was in his eyes. I shook my head and held his hand reassuringly. "I didn't mean it like that…"

He looked the other way, and then looked back at me. He was about to speak, but Sora spoke first.

"Hey Jenn, d'you remember the day we met?"

She laughed, and I felt all her emotions run through me. Her emotions, they flow through me like a river. I let them take over, and found myself smiling. Roxas reacted that same way.

"Of course, silly! Why would I forget!"

"Haha, I dunno, y'know…I was just thinking is all…" Sora scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

Roxas scoffed quietly, and looked at me with a soft expression. "See?"

I laughed.

"Well Roxas…it went a little like this…"

Hollow Bastion.

It was teeming with Heartless, to the point where yellow beady eyes followed you everywhere.

This is where our story began.

Jenn grunted softly, bashing her keyblade at a Shadow and shaking her fist at it in anger. "Stupid things!" She muttered.

Her companion, a spiky haired brunette, chuckled under his breath and made sure to stick close to her.

Nearby, our mage duck friend, Donald, and his partner and Knight Commander, Goofy, fought hardship as well. Leon and Yuffie kicked ass on the other side of the field, and Cloud was doing his own thing.

That's when it appeared, the huge, Heartless monster. A large, turtle shaped Heartless stomped its foot near Donald. Donald cried and leaped out of the way into Goofy's arms. Cloud grunted at its left foot and whistled at Leon. The other brunette peered over Yuffie's head and let his eyes widen at the sight of the monster.

"Woo-ee, look at that beast-y!" Cid cried from the headset in their ears. Sora sweat dropped and rushed to follow after Yuffie.

More Shadows teamed up and bit at Jenn's ankles.

"Away with you, beady-like creatures!" She yelped, thwacking them all and burning a few with her relentless fire. Aerith's voice came out very low in the earpiece.

"Shin, I think they need you." Her voice was soothing and angelic, though the battle was rough and scary; it calmed Jenn down little by little.

The Destroyer roared loudly and caused an earthquake that put everyone on the floor, and even took out some Shadows! Its head reared and slammed into a cliff near. From the cliff, a small figured leaped into the air and smashed a kick into the monster's forehead. It growled and swatted at the agility-crazed figure, but that cease to stop it.

The male landed to the floor with an agile stance. His spiky like onyx hair bounded a bit when he rose. Green eyes scanned Sora and nodded softly. Sora nodded back, for he knew the famous Hallow Bastion Prodigy, Shin.

Shin, a boy of 15, was the toughest gunman you'd ever meet. He was quick on his feet, good with his aim, and a pretty hot thing to look at. Gun blade at his side, he rushed into the fray.

Thought without consolation, Jenn was struggling. To the point where Neoshadows had begun to sneak up on her. Trying with all her might, she called for Yuffie but-!

"Jenn!" The quack came out of nowhere. Sora's head whipped back to his companion, who was dog piled by Neoshadows. His heart stopped, and all time froze.

Running seemed like the only thing on his mind. So he did.

He ran and ran and ran to the side of the girl he had to protect.

But he was too late when he got there.

The process of becoming a Nobody is excruciatingly painful, let me tell you. It was also sort of strange, being naked for a brief second. But hey, not complaining here. I was born there, in the dark void where Jenn's heart lie. I watched it for a bit, confused about my existence. At this time, I was so young of a being, I had no idea.

I watched it hover, wanted to have it. But the darkness wanted it just as bad. It licked at the bright glow lighting the darkness. And I narrowed my eyes at it. Standing in front of the reason for my existence, that was my first reaction. I flailed my arms at it.

"Go." I muttered quietly, and scared myself when first using my feminine voice.

But to the surprise of me, and the darkness, the heart disappeared in a flash of light.

I was left in total darkness. And didn't mind it. Weird, right?

Darkness was like…a mother, you could say. Maybe? No? Fine, whatever.

Back in Hollow Bastion, Sora's arms were wrapped around the now conscious teenager. It wasn't until later that I released I had partially saved Jenn from the darkness.

Jenn gained consciousness and blinked confused, in Sora's arms. The Destroyer roared in agony in the distance, which made the two look back. Cloud had stabbed the monster in the foot, and Shin had his gun blade raised to an aim frankly close to the monster's forehead, where a trail of smoke led. The monster fell and smoked into black smog, then disappeared.

The other crusaders crowded around Sora and Jenn. Donald's (rare!) worried expression teased his face. Goody bit his nails promptly.

"I'm fine." Jenn blinked again. "What happened?"

Sora's head was down, refusing to let the tears fall.

Merlin and Aerith ran over from said mage's home. "Why, my dear, you were engulfed by darkness and turned into a heartless!"

The other went into a worried and crazy explanation about how the darkness engulfed her and she rarely returned, unlike most. At the same time, Shin thought quietly to himself. He was a quiet prodigy, Shin. He liked to think a lot.

'If Jenn returned, Yen Sid explained the Nobody process…' He brushed some of his hair from his face. 'And if she can't remember…!'

"Jenn, where did you grow up!" He blurted out. They all looked back at him, awestruck.

Jenn blinked up at him, and tilted her head at him. "I'm not sure…why?"

"Never mind, your parents' names?"

"Umm…?"

"How about your elementary education?"

"What…I had elementary education?"

"Do you remember Grade 8 graduation when we pied that one teacher?"

"…Sorry…?"

'Eh…! S-She has…that's not…damn it!'

"I have to go…now." Shin looked at them all with a serious and angry expression. Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Where to, son?"

"I need a gummi ship; can you get me one Master?"

This took Merlin aback. Sora looked up at him with a dumb look. "Wha—why are you leaving!"

Shin ignored him.

"I-I guess I can…but…can you manage-?"

"Yes sir." He nodded.

That night when Shin had taken off from Hollow Bastion, Ansem was destroyed.

Or so they thought.

In the mean time, I wandered around the darkness for days, almost 25 days.

On the 26th day of my existence, I woke up on a stationary stain glass floor, hovering in the darkness.

But it was for a brief second. I was asked about a weapon preference, and suddenly I was in a comfortable town experiencing sunset.

-Twilight Town-

I wandered the town, watching children play and shopkeepers fighting. I remember thinking something about the strange qualities of all the people around me. They paid no attention to me. Running my hand over an arch in the outskirts wall, I marched into a small wood. The trees whistled as the wind blew through them. I sat down at one of the trunks and thought.

I could have sworn at that time that I sat there for hours before the night engulfed me, and a hooded man emerged from the bushes. I looked up at him, my opaque eyes showing no emotion. The man looked down on me, and the evilest smirk graced his tanned face. He threw back the hood and I got a better look at the man.

His hair was elegant silver and it came down to his shoulders. It looked like silk, and I knew he was special just by the way he looked upon me. He was a man who gained respect, maybe even from fear of him or lack of respect for themselves.

"You must be Jenn."

I blinked up at him. He sounds like a whack-o, right? Yeah, I never did like him too much.

The man gave a hearty laugh (ha, hearty, he lacks a heart…ha). The letters of Jenn's name hovered in front of his raised gloved hand. An 'x' appeared next to them, and I curiously looked up at him. He leaned down to examine my face, and then stood straight again. The letter rearranged and spelt out a different name now, 'Nexjn'.

"You will go by this name now, number fourteen."

Yeah, I was thinking 'Number fourteen'? Sometimes we suspect he was on drugs, but whatever, he's the Superior-sorry, narrating my story is like spoiling the future, I should go back to letting you read my thoughts like it was happening, eh?

I nodded to him, and managed to mutter in response. "And what may I call you?"

The man seemed slightly amused rather than shocked when I spoke. "I am your Superior, Xemnas. You will refer to me as such."

"As you wish, Superior."

He was pleased with my response, and led me into a dark, swirling portal that stood behind him.

-The World That Never Was-

The Superior led me into this huge, silver, menacing castle. Most of the hallways were empty, ok maybe like all of them were empty.

There was a large door at the end of one hallway, and it was in front of this door that he pointed to the room opposite of it against the wall. "Take a cloak, put it on, and come in when I introduce you." He ordered, and then turned his back on me. I brushed back my extremely long hair, which I hadn't managed at all, even when in the dark void. I couldn't manage it anyway…no mirrors…god…

I pulled on the cloak after getting rid of my other garments and folding them carefully in the corner of the room on a stool. The cloak was black, and slimming. I actually kind of liked it. Slowly revolving on the spot, I took care of any creases I could see and stood outside the door.

From inside, I could here the audience discussing with the Superior. They were talking about me, and I felt the tiniest movement in my chest. Whoa…I brought a hand up to the left side of my chest and held it, but quickly composed myself when I heard the Superior call my number. I brought the hood over my head and made sure to tuck my hair away, then stepped into the Circle Room.

I couldn't believe what I saw inside. Along the walls were chairs, of different heights, elevated with other cloaked people seated in them. The Superior was at the very far side of the room in the center, the highest chair. He looked down at me, his hood off. Everyone else looked at me, with their hoods up.

"Nexjn, meet our Organization XIII-" He gestured his gloved hand around the room.

"This is Xigbar," The man next to the Superior removed his hood and looked at me with one burning amber eye. The other eye was covered with an eye patch, and his hair was brought back into a ponytail. A grey streak tinted his black hair. Xigbar had an elfish face and pointy ears. His lips turned into an evil grin. "He is the second." Xemnas stated bluntly.

Second for what…? Maybe it has something to do with this 'Fourteen' business.

Next to Xigbar, a man with black dreadlocks and muttonchops glanced down at me while removing his hood. I gulped. Talk about intimidating! "This is Xaldin; he's the third, As if you'd want to challenge him." Xigbar laughed, slapping his knee and gaining a glance from both the Superior and Xaldin. The eighth and ninth chairs snickered quietly at my left.

"Vexen." Xaldin grunted, the long haired blonde man stared insanely at you. Mad scientist, I thought. His bright green eyes burrowed into me, in an attempt to penetrate my hood. "Fourth."

"I am Vexen, scientist of this castle-" Definitely mad, "This is Lexaeus, he is the fifth."

The burly, curly haired man nodded to me, and pointed to the sixth. "Zexion."

The grey-blue emo-haired male looked at me. I looked back at him and could feel him trying to read my thought to better understand. "Zexion, a pleasure." He bowed. I bowed back at him in respect. "This is Saïx, the seventh and the second hand to the Superior, respect him." He tone was almost like a warning.

Saïx was a man with long, blue hair that was elegant like the Superior's, and he has a huge 'x' scar on his face. His amber eyes showed the respect…teacher's pet! He must be that total brown-noser! I laughed inwardly. "Saïx, behave, or you shall be punished."

To me, that punishment didn't sound like one of those 'beating' punishments, and sounded more like a rape threat…oh dear.

"This is…" Saïx gave a noticeable sigh and shook his head. Clearly he didn't want to introduce number eight. "…Axel, the eight-"

"Hey there!" Axel stood up, and my eyes widened when his hood pulled back to reveal flaming red, spiky hair and bright, handsome green eyes. He smirked down at me and gave me a thumb up. I liked this guy already! Friendly enough in a group of stiffs.

"I'm Axel, the eighth, got it memorized?" He pointed his index finger to his temple. I nodded my head slowly. Axel smirked and stroked his chin, "Good! Then I pass the mic to Demyx, number nine!"

Demyx didn't seem to be paying attention. He just sat there, lounging on his chair with his sitar. Superior cleared his throat. "Demyx."

Demyx tripped out and almost dropped his guitar. Axel chuckled beside him and shook his head. I giggled softly, holding a hand to my mouth. Saïx face palmed. Demyx stood and pulled his hood back.

"Heh heh…sorry, my name's Demyx! I'm the ninth! This is my sitar, Jillian!"

Most of the room face palmed this time. I giggled again.

"It's nice to meet you too, Jillian." I spoke aloud for once. Demyx smiled, running a hand through his blonde locks. His sea green eyes darted to the figure beside him. "Here's Luxord, the tenth."

Luxord had a British accent when he introduced himself, and blonde short hair. He introduced the 11th, Marluxia. He was such a flowery boy, I could tell already. He had light brown, almost pink looking layered hair.

After him was Larxene, who I would most likely avoid. She was fierce. Enough said.

Larxene looked at the Superior, her face clearly saying something along the lines of, "Do I have to introduce the next snot?". He nodded, and she sighed with furrowed eyebrows.

"This brat's Roxas, he's thirteen." She sat down simply after that.

Roxas hesitated to stand up, but managed to do so. He pulled back his hood slowly and revealed the young teenager behind it. I examined him carefully. He had spiky, blonde hair sticking in all directions (mostly upward), and his eyes were a sapphire blue. He looked my height, maybe even taller.

"I'm Roxas…the thirteenth. It's nice to meet you." Roxas waited a few seconds, before bowing his head into a nod. I nodded back at him with a smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Roxas."

"You're a very developed Nobody." Vexen spoke from the other side of the room. Roxas and I turned to look his way, as did other members.

"She is, very." Marluxia mused in agreement.

"Tell me, Nexjn,"-Vexen had a clipboard in front of him, "How old you are, do you know?"

The Superior crossed his legs and looked at me with interest. Zexion watched me carefully, and Axel looked at me with a suggestive face.

"I am 25 days, and 15 years physically." I gestured a hand to Vexen, whose face was surprised at my answer.

"Very developed, how could we have missed this one?" Xaldin looked up to the Superior. Xemnas didn't respond, he merely crossed his arms in thought. "Meeting dismissed, welcome, Nexjn."

I nodded to the Superior. After the room piled out, the Superior called my name.

I looked back at him. "Yes sir?"

"Axel will show you around…" As he turned to talk to Saïx, he looked back once more. "And please," His smile was very uncomfortably sweet, "Don't go poking around."

"Y-Yes sir…" I bowed, and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been a couple months since I last saw number thirteen.

But now I've got him. I know he's here.

Ansem the Wise...he's gonna pay.

I walked uneasily, one foot in front of the other. Brushing back strands of my tided back chestnut hair, I approached the Market Street carefully. It was early morning, and the sun was bound to rise at any minute. My boots clicked against the ground.

When I reached the Train Common, it was light out. A teenaged boy, about my age, pushed passed my shoulder roughly. His disgusted face turned to me and spat out a rude "watch it punk!". He then proceeded to carry out his day with his posse not to far behind.

Huh, RUDE.

"I can believe those kids would do such a thing!" a shopkeeper cried, her customer nodding back to her.

"Yeah, I expected better of Roxas."

Click.

Heel turn.

Bingo.

"Roxas? He's such a sweetheart though!"

Hell, don't get me started.

It took a while to track them down, but I found the exact people I was looking for.

Roxas' spiky, blonde locks were in my line of vision. Something inside me pounded, and my breath caught in my throat. Finally! After months!

But...I can't be suspicious...

Damn it.

I had to get rid of the cloak.

I did so. Though I wasn't comfortable doing so.

When I looked over the attire I chose to wear under my cloak, a weak smile formed on my face. I was born in this very town in this very outfit.

"I can't believe they all think we stole the -!" the short, slightly larger boy exclaimed. The tall blonde one frowned and shook his head. There was disappointment on his face. The only other female looked upset as well. Roxas was deep in thought.

-? Why can't they say -? Why can't I say -?

I sense another familiar presence nearby. My ears heard the gentle swish of a Dusk skimming the building behind me like a summer's breeze, soundlessly.

"Excellent." I smirked smugly, earning unwanted attention from the group. I let out a 'yelp!' and tried to hide. But I was a bit too late. Talk about your clumsy Nobody.

"Hey, you!"

I turned on my heel casually and pretended not to hear a word. They murmured behind me and one of them approached me. Their footsteps were light, so I figured it was the quiet female.

She tapped my shoulder. I flinched, arching my shoulders and looking at her with a forced smile.

"Can I help you?" I tittered.

The girl smiled back at me sweetly, and I suddenly felt no fear. She was sweet on a simple analysis. Her kind green eyes and soft brown hair...reminded me a bit of myself. I smiled at her.

"Do you have any ide-oh...I haven't seen you around before!" The girl covered her mouth with her hand awkwardly. "M-My name's Olette, sorry about that!" she laughed nervously.

I waved it off.

"It's fine. It's very nice to meet you Olette."

"Likewise!"

Olette waved her friends over and they followed, the tall blonde and Roxas were more reluctant. The short boy gave me a large hand and grinned broadly.

"Hey there! I'm Pence, I don't think we've met before."

I shook my head.

"Don't be rude, Hayner..." Olette put on a pout and crossed her arms. The tall blonde scoffed, but seemed to unwind a bit.

Roxas put out a hand. "Hey, I'm Roxas...it's nice to meet you...?"

Shoot.

Mingling in other world's affairs...well it's Ansem's world...so it's not really a world...is it?

"Akiko. It's nice to meet you Roxas."

"Have we met before?"

There was a brief pause, before I forced myself to shake my head (against my wishes). The blonde's curious glance was on me, but I looked away at Hayner instead.

"I'm Hayner." the tall blonde nodded at me with his cool composure. I nodded back and smiled sweetly.

"So did you just move here?" Olette pressed.

"Yes, I moved into Sunset Terrace yesterday." I lied.

From the looks on their faces, they seemed to buy it.

"That's cool!" Pence gave me a thumbs up.

"Anyway, it sounds like you're having trouble with a thief?" the topic had disappeared, so I threw it back out to get a chance to sneak away.

"Oh!" Roxas rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "Yeah! I forgot about that..."

"Let's go talk to Seifer." Hayner growled, punching his fist. We laughed wholeheartedly. "Why don't you come with us Akiko?" offered the other female. I shook my head in protest.

"Sorry, I have to deal with some moving issues."

"Oh."

"I'd be happy too another time, however." I added in quickly. The sad look on Olette's face made me feel the littlest bit guilty. But who am I kidding. I don't have a heart.

They grinned, and ran towards the Sandlot after waving a quick goodbye. I let out a heavy sigh, and proceeded to zip my cloak back on.

"This is gonna end badly..." I pulled the hood over my head and ran into the forest.

The Dusk didn't take long to show up. At that time, I was waiting for the brainless being at Ansem's mansion.

When it approached, I summoned Fairy Harp and Spellbinder to my sides. It stopped and glance at me. I glanced back at it. How dare Xemnas, messing with MY mission.

...okay not officially. WHATEVER. MY MISSION.

The Dusk panicked and swiftly avoided the blunt of my Spellbinder. I pulled a reversal and ran for it. It didn't follow, and I looked back to see why.

In my line of vision was the same familiar spikes. I grunted quietly, and lowered my weapons. He glanced at me, panting. His sapphire blue eyes didn't falter when I glared back at him.

Instead, he asked a question with determination.

"Who are you?"

"..." I didn't respond. Instead, I slid forward, hovering on my toes. He gawked at the majestic glide of my black boots across the tattered grass. I stopped behind him and nudged my head to the Dusk.

Roxas scanned me, and then my Keyblades. I looked downed, self conscience of myself. The Keyblades phased back into the darkness, Fairy Harp disappeared into a pool of Light and petals, and Spellbinder sparked and flashed away like lightning.

The Dusk wiped it's body at him. Roxas let out a furious grunt and turned to face the creature. Struggle bat raised, he dove into battle. The bat phase harmlessly through the Dusk, however.

I facepalmed. For the love of Kingdom Hearts.

The bat reformed in a flash of data files. My eyes widened. That's new. Ansem's messing with this world...grrr.

Roxas was in possession of Kingdom Key now, and he seemed to connect his weapon with my own previous ones. With determination, he gripped the handle of his blade and ran into the battle, weapon at his side.

The Dusk disappeared with a little swish. Roxas panted over the remains of the beast, which were a couple of photos. A polaroid picture fluttered to the ground in front of my feet. I took a step back before reaching to grab it.

Roxas was too busy examining the photos in his hands to notice me approach him. However, when he did, he raised Kingdom Key in defense with knitted eyebrows. That expression changed quickly to confused when the blade disappeared.

I felt the confusion as well. Ansem is messing with this world. The blonde continued to stand in defense until he saw the photo in my outstretched, graceful hand.

His sapphire eyes stared at the picture, then he peered up into the shadow orbs of mine.

"Who are you?" he demanded again.

"..." I turned to my right towards the forest, "I am a servant of the world."

He gaped at me, staring.

My head turned to him as I leaned up against a tall pine tree.

"Just...don't interfere."

As I took my leave, I stopped once more. "Oh...and Roxas?"

Said boy flinched at the unknown realization, but nodded at me.

"...please be careful. Things aren't right in this world."

I left him to ponder that request.


End file.
